PAMED 2013, the 8^th edition of the annual scientific workshop on avian disease, was held on June 5^th in Hammamet. Every year, as part of the partnership which links Ceva and the company Dick, a subsidiary of POULINA GROUP HOLDING and Tunisia’s leading poultry producer, this full-day conference addresses key technical issues relating to the avian sector.

The title of this year’s event was ‘Controlling regulated avian diseases, a sustainable and collaborative approach’. The opening sessions focused on various practical issues and some of the questions arising from our public-private partnerships. For the first time since this event was first launched in 2006, the workshop was organised in full collaboration with the national and international authorities (OIE).

This partnership extended to everything from the choice of subjects to the structuring of the discussions. Preparatory meetings with the authorities ahead of this conference began in early 2013, in order to clearly identify the priorities of both parties.

In addition to the close involvement of the leading players in the avian sector – with over 300 delegates in attendance– perhaps the most memorable result of this year’s event was that, perhaps for the first time, we were able to observe numerous points where the positions of our various governmental partners are beginning to diverge, particularly with regard to the ban on vaccinations against salmonella and mycoplasma.

 

Last but not least, it was also a great pleasure for the Ceva team to be present at the first ever conference chaired by the GTVT (Tunisian Veterinary Science Association) in Tunisia on the subject ‘introducing a toolbox for dealing with salmonella’. The GTVT, of course, was created a year ago at the initiative of Ceva Tunisia, in partnership with its French GTV counterparts.